friendly_ass wrote:
I think Lawrence Kohlberg's theory is intriguing. I would argue we're more likely to be in the latter stages of the moral reasoning. The gift of Autism is to perceive the world abstractly. Therefore, it must be easier for us to develop beyond a morality based on the rules that exist, to a morality based on what is actually ethically right or wrong.
I notice that Kohlberg proposed a final stage of morality could be transcendental. That is, inspired by a God or Gods or some kind of religion. I think that makes sense. Since I started to believe in a God or Gods as well as reincarnation I find it easier to be moral.
Yet I suspect many people who go to churches, mosques, synagogues and temples simply pretend to believe in a God or Gods. I even saw a news report about a British vicar openly admitting he'd never believed in God. These people must see religion as one of society's laws necessary for keeping morals. They can not appreciate the higher morality of what the religion is truly about.
I disagree somewhat. After all, we think incredibly obtusely as a collective; this forum has a lot of proof of that. I do think we tend to operate as individuals naturally though, making the whole avoiding punishment and such pretty off. The fact that we are loners makes it hard to say whether or not it's a sign of strength to be able to fit the collective or act as individuals.
The idea of God is completely false to me, just a method of controlling masses through fear. That would be level 1 morality, the kind that the churchgoers you describe are like. I can believe in religious philosophies, but there being a god is remarkably slim.
27 Apr 2012, 12:58 pm
